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Syrian government forces have taken control of a base in the country’s east that has been operated by US troops for years as part of the war against the Islamic State group, the defense ministry said on Thursday.
It comes after news that the country’s interim president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, as well as several Syrian ministers, were the targets of five foiled assassination attempts last year, according to a report released by the United Nations on Wednesday.
The al-Tanf base is in a strategic location, close to the borders with Jordan and Iraq. In a brief statement, the Syrian Defense Ministry said the handover of the base was carried out in coordination with the US military and that Syrian forces were now “securing the base and its perimeters”.
Two US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the surrender to Reuters.
The Syrian Ministry of Defense also said that Syrian troops are now deployed in the desert area around the al-Tanf garrison, and border guards will be deployed in the coming days.
The deployment of Syrian troops in al-Tanf and surrounding areas follows an agreement last month between the government and the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to merge with the military.
Al-Tanf Garrison has been repeatedly attacked by drones in recent years by Iran-backed groups, but such attacks dropped sharply after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government in Syria in December 2024, when rebel groups marched into his seat of power in Damascus. Assad fled to Russia.
The Al-Tanf base played an important role in the fight against the Islamic State group, which declared a caliphate in large parts of Syria and Iraq in 2014. IS was defeated in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria two years later.
Over the past few weeks, the US military has begun transferring thousands of ISIS prisoners from SDF-run prisons in northeastern Syria to Iraq, where they will be processed.
The parcels were described in detail by the UN
Interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa has been expanding his control over the country, and last month government forces seized large swaths of northeastern Syria after deadly clashes with the SDF.
A ceasefire was later reached between the government and the SDF.
After a decade in power, the Assad regime fell to Syrian rebel groups led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. Andrew Chang describes the two weeks of intense fighting that led to this seismic breakthrough by rebel forces. Images provided by Getty Images, Canadian Press and Reuters Connect. Additional credits: 0:05: BBC News/YouTube, 0:09: PBS NewsHour/YouTube, 0:13: Social Media via Reuters, 0:14: Social Media via Reuters, 1:52: FRANCE 24 English/YouTube, 1:56: FRANCE 24 English/YouTube, 1:57: ABC News (Australia)/YouTube
Al-Sharaa, as well as Syria’s interior and foreign ministers, were the targets of five foiled assassination attempts last year, according to a report released by the United Nations on Wednesday.
The report said al-Sharaa had been targeted in attacks in northern Aleppo, the country’s most populous province, and southern Daraa by a group called Saraya Ansar al-Sunnah, believed to be a front for the Islamic State group.
The report, issued by Secretary-General António Guterres and prepared by the UN’s Office on Terrorism, did not give dates or details of targets against Al-Shara or Syrian Interior Minister Anas Hasan Hasan Khattab and Foreign Affairs Minister Assad Al-Shibani.
ISIS still has a significant presence
The assassination attempts are further evidence that ISIS remains intent on undermining the new Syrian government and “actively exploiting security vacuums and insecurities” in Syria, the report said.
According to UN counter-terrorism experts, the Islamic State group maintains about 3,000 fighters across Iraq and Syria, most of them stationed in Syria. UN counter-terrorism experts said the militant group continues to operate across the country, primarily attacking security forces, particularly in the north and northeast.
Some Syrians are going home a year after the brutal regime of Bashar al-Assad fell. CBC’s Briar Stewart recently went to the Öncüpınar border crossing in southern Turkey to talk to the families about their decision to return.
In November, Sharai’s government joined an international coalition formed to oppose the Islamic State group, which once controlled much of Syria.
Al-Sharaa was previously the leader of Hayar Tahrir al-Sham, a militant group once linked to al-Qaeda, though it later cut ties.
